Not shopping at all!

“Ooooof!” I grunted, staggering backwards with the effort and nearly landing bottom-down in the cat’s litter tray as a spray of ice shards cascaded around me.

Nope, I’ve not been mountaineering (although what the cat would be doing crapping halfway up a precipice I have no idea) - merely trying to open the door to my freezer last night.

I swear my freezer gets awkward on purpose, just to annoy me. I leave it alone for a few days and then when I go back it’s frozen solid and I have to chip away at the door to get in, while half-pleading, half-swearing at it.... “come on you b******d, let me in, pleeeeeeeeeease....”

Although admittedly this might be because I overfill it. I think years of watching my grandma (who has never got rid of her wartime mentality and declares a national emergency if she ever dips below having five pints of milk on standby) must have affected my attitude towards food, because I hate wasting anything and always stick leftovers in the freezer. Tubs of homemade pasta sauce.... soup.... loaves of bread.... you name it - I will freeze it.

But it’s this prudence that has been keeping me going recently.

Have you ever wondered what might happen or how long you’d be able to sustain yourself if you stopped shopping altogether?

I’ve kind of unwittingly been running this little experiment for the past few weeks - not as a conscious decision - but due to a few other factors that have meant I’ve been away from home a lot, in the office a lot and staying with friends.

I’ve been popping to the corner shop for the odd tin of beans, nipping to Sound Bites in Derby for my lunchtime sandwiches, and of course still receiving my brilliant veggie box from the now-legendary Banana Bob, but apart from that I’ve barely been shopping at all. Certainly no trips to farm shops or Brown and Green for the usual week’s groceries.

And yet, when I have been at home, I’ve still been managing to feed myself pretty well. Granted last night I just had beans on toast, but I was really tired and had a massive pile of ironing to do (rock and roll) and really just couldn’t be bothered with cooking as well.

But as a general rule I’ve been eating pretty well from the contents of my cupboards and freezer, mixed in with a little bit of fresh stuff from the veggie box.

Admittedly there have been some slightly odd combinations - leftover pizza with mashed potato and gravy being one of my favourites. But thanks to the bad-tempered freezer I’ve not been going without, which just goes to show how much we must over-buy, over-eat, or waste normally.

It doesn’t make for particularly interesting blog fodder though when I’m meant to be writing about my year without supermarkets. Clearly I’ve not been anywhere near a supermarket, but I’m not really exploring the alternatives right now either.